Traditionally, the majority of data messages have been sent across radio networks in real-time when the user requests them. This common practice of “Deliver NOW” is utilized extensively in the growing area of text-based message or voice services of cellular networks. The delivery of data in real-time ignores the fact that wireless network data traffic is unevenly distributed. The maximum network capacity is dimensioned to match the network load peaks, thus leaving a lot of unused capacity in the network. Typically, in a twenty-four hour day cycle (except for a few traffic peaks during office hours), more than half of the network capacity is unused.
Typical message delivery systems on wireless networks have sustained themselves due to strict adherence to a small file size requirement. The cost of a wireless network delivering larger file size content such as a video clip or an image file on demand would be prohibitively expensive, as well as time-consuming, to the end-user. Many current wireless network delivery systems have addressed the problem by adding additional network base stations and fine tuning coding techniques. These methods only lead to additional capacity without reducing the cost to send the actual data over the wireless network. If the sending device tries to send a message and the recipient is not available (e.g. terminal is turned off) the service center continues to send messages so long it can reach the recipient device (the amount of time the service center attempts to send the message can be limited to a pre-determined time window).
Therefore, there exists a need for a system and method whereby a user could specify, using his or her wireless terminal device, whether a message is to be delivered in real-time which will prevent the system from managing present network load conditions while the message is being delivered, or to be time delayed to suit the existing demands on the wireless network.